It was just a matter of time; Singapore introduced the latest round of cooling measures in the beginning of October and last Friday Hong Kong then followed suit, imposing a 15 percent tax on foreign buyers. In both instances, the measures are intended to curb the rise in property prices, which have continued to rise despite several rounds of government interventions over the past couple of years.

India, China, the Middle East, western Australia, Russia and eastern Europe seem to have simultaneously fallen in love with Asia and the September announcement by the US Federal Reserve of a third round of quantitative easing in order to stimulate the economy was the last straw for Asian policy makers who are under increasing pressure from the public to curb speculation and rising prices.

The Fed’s commitment to buy US$40 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities per month for an unspecified amount of time and most likely keeping the interest rates low for a longer time still, is undoubtedly designed to spur spending at home, yet large numbers of US investors have long ago lost confidence in their own markets and many are turning elsewhere, to Asia in particular.